A finger ran over the tattooed word on your arm as you sighed while looking at it. Somehow your hunch was making a lot of sense and looking at the tattoo every morning became a habit for you. The word now read 'Twenty-five' and if your guess is correct, it won't be long before you can go home. The idea of being able to go back to your world and your familiar surroundings sounds comforting, but there was a small voice in your head that kept on saying, "I want to stay."
Deep in your thoughts while sitting on a bench in the gardens, you didn't notice Legolas approach you. Luckily you were able to pull your sleeve down and hide the tattoo before he took a seat.
Legolas smiled at you and greeted you a good morning and you mirrored him and said the same. You both sat in silence for a few minutes before he made an effort to start a conversation with you.
"I hope you are finding your stay here quite pleasant, even though I know it must be difficult for you to adjust," he said.
You nodded and said, "It is quite lovely here. There's so much to learn."
"If you have anything you want to ask, do not hesitate to ask me or Ada," Legolas said and you were ever so grateful for that. Even though you were able to talk to others, you still felt a little bit uncomfortable. Having Legolas assure you that you could talk to him made you feel better.
"Then may I ask what's going on with the forest?" When Legolas asked if you could expand on that question, you continued. "The trees I could see from my balcony but somewhere far away, the trees seem to be in darker shades of green. Some even look sick. I don't know if it's because magic was the reason why I was brought here, but I can sense something unpleasant from there."
Legolas' face looked grim as he looked at the flowers that were contrastingly more colorful than those outside the caves. "I think wherever there is good, there will always be those who are evil. There is something lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right time to attack. We do not know, but we must be on guard."
"Their magic is affecting the forest?" you asked.
"Mirkwood was not called Mirkwood before. It was known as Eryn Galen or Greenwood the Great. But when the shadow of evil fell upon our land, they started to call it Taur-e-Ndaedelos or the Forest of Great Fear."
You placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned to face you. "You said it yourself, wherever there is good, there will always be those who are evil. It might sound cliché, but the sun never ceases to show itself and make our world brighter. It will all pass."
"I do hope you are right." Legolas grinned. "I also like your positivity. It is rather refreshing. We have been living here for thousands of years, fleeing and trying to fight off the enemy. Some have given up hope, some have lost the light in them."
"Your ancestors have been through a lot."
Legolas shook his head with an amused smile. "Well, I wouldn't really say ancestors. Some of those who have seen the dark ages are still alive. We are immortal, (Y/N). We live as long as the world lives."
You seemed to remember one of the things you've read before about elves. Of course they weren't real in your world—they were fictional characters and things about them were only made by human beings. You never paid attention to that random fact, but now that you were in a world where elves are real, you couldn't get over the idea that the elf you were talking to right now is probably ten times (even a hundred times or a thousand times) older than you.
"So you can never die?"
He leaned back on his seat and crossed his arms across his chest. "We can, if we are ever slain in battle or if we ever lose the will to live because of grief and weariness. The spirits of those who died are summoned in the Halls of Mandos and there they are given the choice if they want to be re-embodied or not. Those who did not die may or may not make the journey to the Undying Lands."
"And where is that?"
The distant and dreamy look on Legolas' face told you that he was dreaming of going there someday. You assumed it was a place where they would no longer have to grow weary.
"Across the sea."
While the two of you continued your conversation, Thranduil was standing a few steps behind the two of you. He had been planning on interrupting earlier, but the sight of his son talking to you made him happy. You were indeed a small ray of sunshine, the kind that was able to pass through the dense canopy of the forest, the kind that made him feel warm and happy.
But he allowed himself to be selfish for now, so Thranduil walked to the two of you and cleared his throat. You and Legolas turned to see the King standing behind you, wearing his crown and his great robe. You still love his crown and wondered how it would feel if you wore it (but you constantly reprimanded yourself for thinking that because who knows how he'll react if you just suddenly grab it from his head).
"Ada," Legolas said, standing up to greet him. You stood up too, but only bowed your head in respect.
"I see that the two of you are having a lovely time," Thranduil said, raising an eyebrow at Legolas. But his son only grinned. Legolas knew of his father's dreams and he just wanted to know if you were nice. From his interaction with you, Legolas could say that you will make his father happy.
"I must be going now. It is time for us to patrol the borders," Legolas said. With one last nod to you, he left with a small skip on his steps.
You smiled at Thranduil when once again the King offered his arm. You hesitantly reach out to him and let him lead you to wherever he was planning to go. When you asked him where he was taking you, Thranduil said that he was going to help you be more familiar with how to make your way around the caves.
"Is there any place you wanted to go to?" he asked.
You pursed your lips before saying, "Do you have a library?"
Without answering, Thranduil started to walk towards the library. When you stopped in front of huge wooden doors, he gestured for you to open them. The moment you stepped inside the library, your eyes widened and your jaw dropped.
"We do not own a lot of books. It is Lord Elrond who has a more impressive library," Thranduil said, watching your reaction.
"What do you mean you don't own a lot of books?" you exclaimed. "This place is huge!"
And it was indeed huge, stretching upwards that you had to crane your neck to see the ceiling. Out o the four walls of the room, there was only one side that was hollowed out to act as bookshelves. There were multiple stairs to the three landings to access the books that you couldn't physically reach. There were tall windows that let in the golden sunshine, and it made the library look more magical to you.
While you were busy admiring the place, Thranduil was busy looking at you. Unconsciously, a fond smile made its way to his lips. He loved seeing your eyes light up at the sight of your favorite place and how you were itching to go run towards the books.
The image from one of his dreams intruded his thoughts and once again he felt his heart ache with the longing of loving someone again.
It was of you, sitting across him while reading an open book on the table. Before you turned to the next chapter, you had looked up at him, smiled, and cited the last few sentences of the chapter.
Snapping out of his thoughts and realizing you were looking up at him expectantly, he let you run towards the bookshelves. You quickly looked at the books and their titles, wondering which book to take with you to your room and read. For a few minutes, you were struggling to pick but you found an interesting hardbound book and you took it. You opened up to a random page and skimmed through the paragraphs to see if they were interesting.
As Thranduil walked towards you, you started to read the last few sentences of the chapter you were in (thank goodness you could read them). But when you read the words out loud, Thranduil stopped in his tracks.
"I constantly wonder to myself if there is a place where magic does not exist. But as I look at you, I realize that it is impossible for them to never experience or see such a thing. You, whom I thought would never come into my life, stayed and did something I have deemed impossible. You taught me how to love. And you loved me back."
His heart stopped beating when you turned to him and smiled.
Those were the same words you had told him in his dream.